Fugitive Held Baby While In Shootout With NJ Police, Official Says

NEWARK, NJ — More details have emerged about a shootout between an attempted murder suspect and police that took place on Monday in Newark.

Details were initially sparse about the gunfire, which broke out around 11 a.m. on the 400-block of Irvine Turner Boulevard.

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General released a statement about the police-involved shooting on Tuesday:

“According to the preliminary investigation, members of the United States Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force were assisting Newark police officers with executing an arrest warrant for attempted murder and other criminal charges … Law enforcement encountered the individual inside a home on Irvine Turner Boulevard in the area of West Bigelow Street in Newark. The man began firing gunshots. Officers subsequently returned fire and the man was struck and wounded.”

In a separate statement made to reporters at the scene, Mayor Ras Baraka said that officers safely rescued a baby from the home using a bulletproof shield.

"I do know he did have a baby, I know the police retrieved the baby from his custody, we have the child so the child is not in danger, thank god, I don't know what he was trying to do, or what it was about, I do know he had a child with him and police safely removed the child from his care," Baraka said.

Emergency responders transported the alleged shooter to University Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound. His identity was not released in the attorney general’s statement.

No police officers were wounded during the incident, authorities said.

Law enforcement officers found a rifle and a handgun during a search of the home, prosecutors added.

The Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability is investigating the shooting. No additional information is being released at this time, authorities said.

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